Page 30 of Chorus of Ashes

Terra had to forcibly remind herself of what Rian had also lost at the hands of her own brother and focused on schooling her breath until the winds that threatened to push them both over the edge eased off. Far below them, the ocean raged, slamming repeatedly into the sharp pillars of rock that jutted to the sky.

“You knew. Didn’t you? You’d made that pact with Domnu … and you knew. That … that…” Terra had to push the words out. Her entire body was shivering now, with anger, and sadness, as she tried to wrap her head around two different men she cared for betraying her.

“That’s what you’re in a fuss about?” Rian’s laugh was bitter. “You’re mad because you think that I knew about your brother? Sorry, princess. I had no idea your brother was the one I could thank for my extended vacation to the human realm. But I look forward to thanking him. In great and painstaking detail.”

“You can’t…” Terra stopped and pressed her fingers to her eyes. Her heart thudded in her chest as worry for her brother twisted low in her stomach. She couldn’t just turn off and on her love for Cormac, even though he apparently could do the same for her. Her brother deserved his punishment, of that she was certain, but not like this.

“Oh … but I can. Don’t you see? You don’t rule here, princess. I’m the one who’s in control. We’re not in your realm anymore, are we?” Rian bent forward so his face was inches from hers, and she could read the fury and confusion that warred in his eyes.

“What are you going to do with him?” Terra was furious with herself for caring, but still she felt like she had to look out for her little brother.

“I don’t know yet, Terra. I need a moment to consider my most painful options.”

“I thought… I thought I meant something to you…”

“What does this have to do with you?” Rian stepped away from the edge of the cliffs, advancing so fast that Terra had to take three steps backward for every one of his. When he’d pushed her sufficiently away from the edge, he grasped her wrists. His touch still warmed her, though she was furious that her body responded to him at all. “Unless you knew your brother committed this crime?”

“I didn’t… I swear it.” How could he even think that of her? Tears pricked her eyes, and confusion warred inside of her. She didn’t know who to be mad at anymore. She just knew that she had all this anger bubbling inside of her, and there was no place for it to go. It was like a teakettle with no steam valve to release the pressure.

“And neither did I, princess. It was just as big a shock to me that your darling brother was responsible for me missing out on my mother’s final days as it was to you then. So don’t come spewing your rage at me, darling. It’s misdirecting your pain, you are.”

At that, Terra really looked at Rian. Well and truly looked at him. Rain dripped down the craggy edges of his handsome face, though his eyes burned brightly, ravaged with emotion. He held her in one spot, his hands tight at her wrists, his touch burning her skin.

She had a choice to make. She could believe he’d deliberately lied to her and used the secret of her brother’s betrayal as a way to manipulate and destroy everything on his path to revenge, or she could take a leap of faith that Rian truly hadn’t known about Cormac’s actions. It was easier, in some respects, to be angry, wasn’t it? From a vaguely objective viewpoint, Terra could understand why Rian had held onto this emotion all these years. Anger was more comfortable than vulnerability.

So she did what her heart begged her to do.

Terra chose to believe her fated mate.

Meeting his gaze, she dug deep and sang their heartsong.

15

The song thundered through Rian,riveting him to the spot.

Already he was confused about how to move forward now that the thing he wanted most had been delivered, quite literally, at his feet. But this?

This was too much.

Terra was his fated mate.

She’d known, all along, that they were fated. And yet had said nothing. No wonder he’d been so pulled to her since the moment he saw her. Everything lined up in sudden and stunning clarity.

The nice gestures, the kisses, the healing of his wounds — she’d been playing him all along. On top of it, she’d had the nerve to storm out onto these cliffs and accuse him of misleading her? Fury blinded him, and he dropped her wrists before he did something stupid like heave her over the edge of the cliff.

Of course, he couldn’t do that. Their connection would make it impossible for him to truly hurt her. But still. He was sorely tempted to be done with her, and all of this, and just transport himself to another time and place where he could nurse his wounds in private. Unfortunately, if he left now, Goddess Domnu would surely return and use her favorite scorched-earth technique on the island.

When the song finished, Terra stood before him, glorious in her ferocity, her chest heaving as the wind whipped her hair around her head. She waited, her lips parted, and he’d never wanted anyone more than in this moment. Grabbing the back of her head, Rian threaded his fingers through her sodden hair and crushed his mouth to hers, feasting on what was his.

She washis.

And he had no idea what to do about it. The very thought that he could have a lifetime of touching Terra, waking next to Terra, going to bed with Terra was both exhilarating and terrifying. Anger had been his bedmate for so long, he wasn’t sure he even knew how to be a partner to someone. Terra moaned into his mouth, and Rian drank in the sweetness of her kiss as he let his hands roam her body. Strength and softness, fury and love, Terra was everything.

And he’d made a deal with the devil.

It took everything in his power to break the kiss and to step back, back, back until he stood in the middle of the soggy meadow, a sullen gray mist surrounding him. As much as his body begged for him to bury himself deep inside Terra, to lose himself to the rush of desire that raged inside of him, he couldn’t do it. Not here. Not like this.

It was too complicated, everything that just happened, and, if he claimed Terra now, he’d no longer be making decisions on his own. No, once a claim was made, choices had to be made between two people. Compromises, even. The last time someone had made a choice for him was when he’d been exiled. Rian refused to let someone else have that kind of power over him again. Even if it meant turning his back on his fated mate.